As I’ve been going around selling Always Lentils, I get lots of questions:
Why are you doing this?
What are your goals?
Do you have a pickle flavor?
But far and away the most common question I get is why don’t you use oil?
I think this question stems from the controversy surrounding seed oils. Are they good for us? Or are they the root cause of diabetes? Should we create regulations because of their detrimental health effects? Or should doctors suggest them to people who are prone to heart disease because of their omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids?
On my social media feeds I see a lot on both sides. Constantly they are calling the other side “brainwashed” because they think “cereal is a healthy breakfast” or because “they think a whole stick of butter in their coffee is good for their heart.” I often scoff at both sides - seeing that they have such strong opinions but rarely meet in the middle.
2 years ago I took my advanced nutrition class at the University of Utah. I had had this professor before and I greatly respected him for his level head as he took many questions like these from the class. One day we were learning about nutrition and cardiovascular disease and it was one of the most interesting classes I’ve ever been in. With some background in nutrition from my mother and my own research because I had some health issues, I had heard many thoughts on this topic before, but it had never been presented to me in this way.
He started with the epidemiological research that is often used against the “pro seed oils.” This research is what started the anti-fat movement as it pointed to fat - specifically saturated fat - as the cause of heart disease. This was correlation at the population level that those groups of people who ate more animal products had more heart disease. However, later, they found the methods were slightly incorrect and the conclusion was invalid - sugar was more likely the culprit.
As research continued saturated fat caught even more of a break. A meta analysis with over 100,000 people was performed and they showed that saturated fat and a later one showed that dietary cholesterol had a net neutral effect on heart disease. It neither helped nor hurt. But there was a problem that my professor showed us, red meat still had a great correlation to heart disease, and not just processed meats, but all red meat. This causes scientists to think that there may be something other than saturated fat and cholesterol that can promote heart disease.
Enter the gut microbiome. There is a product produced from dietary carnitine and choline in the gut microbiome called Trimethyl Amine (TMA). This product is then converted in the liver to Trimethyl Amine N-Oxide (TMAO). This TMAO had been linked to heart disease earlier and we found a pathway for how it might become present in the body! What foods are high in carnitine and choline? You guessed it, red meat is number one, with many animal products following on the list.
Now none of this evidence is conclusive, and many of these products, TMAO included, have useful effects in the body, but the point is this. There is much more nuance to food than one might imagine. Something isn’t just “good” or “bad”. And just because we prove something isn’t bad in one way (saturated fat) doesn’t mean it can’t be bad in another.
Even trans fat (and this is the point of this blog post) has more nuance to it. It definitely keeps food stable, but, it, without a doubt, is harmful to humans. This is the conclusion for me - am I cooking with oil? For me the answer is no, especially in a product like this. As unsaturated fats are exposed to heat and time they can convert their double cis bonds into double trans bonds which is the creator of a “trans” fat. But do I eat lots of oil? YES! I think it is very beneficial for us.
So, the statement is NOT this, “seed oils are bad for us.” The statement is also NOT this, “saturated fat is bad for us.” The statement IS this, “there’s lots of nuance, and I want to avoid the controversy and focus on health we can all agree on.”
Problems? Let me know! Follow us on Instagram @_Always_Food and reach out if you have any questions, concerns, or just want to talk. Enjoy our products and I hope they can help you lead healthier lives!
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